D.C. United stadium deal proposal submitted to D.C. Council

Mayor Vincent Gray has issued a press release with the details of the D.C. United stadium proposal and has submitted legislation to the D.C. Council. Most of the details are the same as what has been reported over the past months, but here is a rundown.

• D.C. will swap the Reeves Center with Akridge for its part of the land on the stadium footprint. Akridge will make up the difference in the values between the two properties with cash, which the District will then put towards acquiring other parts of the land in the stadium footprint.
• Pepco will receive some cash from the Akridge deal, as well as acquiring District owned land at 1st Street and K NW to build a future power substation.
• The District's costs are capped at $150 million, with an article from the Washington Business Journal suggesting that the District's estimated costs are currently at $120 million.
• The term of the lease is for thirty years, with two five year extensions possible after that. When the lease is over, the land will revert to the District.
• The District will start receiving property tax in year five, sales tax revenue in year six, and a ticket surcharge in year ten.

Allen Lew, the city administrator, has also finally reached a deal with Mark Ein and Super Salvage, the last landowners on the stadium footprint. However, the terms of that deal were not immediately available.

However, as we all know, the hardest part of this project is yet to come. The D.C. Council must now approve the deal before anything can happen, and the will of the Council is unpredictable even in the best of circumstances. With Vincent Gray a lame duck, it is unclear if Muriel Bowser or other members of the Council will want to move forward with this project before they adjourn in July. There is still plenty that can go wrong with this package, but getting something before the Council is itself a step.